Sir Robert Bond and the Government.

I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that the report of the discussion which followed the statement of Sir Robert Bond on the subject of the Newfoundland fishery has been omitted from the minutes of proceedings of the Colonial Conference recently issued to Members; whether he is aware of the reasons of this omission; and whether it is intended to issue an unexpurgated edition of the minutes for the information of hon. Members.

At the same time may I ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if, at the private discussion on Sir Robert Bond's statement at the recent Colonial Conference referred to in the Blue-book, Sir Robert Bond made any statement other than that published in the Blue-book; if so, if such statement was accompanied by any dramatic incident or contained any heated expression; and if the Colonial Office will put the House in possession of a full Report of all that took place in connection with the discussion in private on the subject of Newfoundland.

The conversation which followed Sir Robert Bond's statement on the subject of the Newfoundland fishery at the recent Colonial Conference was not published because the members of the Conference agreed that such publication would be contrary to the public interest as it related to negotiations which are pending with a foreign power. I may add, with reference to a similar Question of the hon. Member for the Ramsey division, that the discussion was not attended by any dramatic incident and did not contain any heated expression.

asked whether copies of the correspondence that passed between the Colonial Office and Sir Robert Bond had been sent to the Press, and, if so, whether any explanation could be given of the fact that the Daily Mail, alone of the London newspapers, did not publish the correspondence.

I think that discussion was the only discussion which was not printed in extenso in the Report of the proceedings, and the reason was that it referred to foreign affairs and affected other countries besides Great Britain.

I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if Sir Robert Bond wrote a letter to the Colonial Office emphatically denying having admitted to a representative of the Daily Mail that the report in that newspaper concerning the discussion on Newfoundland was substantially correct; and, if so, if the Colonial Office will publish Sir Robert Bond's letter.